Experience, Strength and Hope comes from the oddest of places.

Elyce and I were reminiscing about how we met. First I call Elyce "Nefertiti" because she reminds me of the busts I've seen of the ancient Egyptian queen. She's beautiful and carries herself gracefully. We met when our ex-husbands were incarcerated. I reconnected with her at the first Al-Anon assembly that I went to. It's odd when I remember it today because I wasn't supposed to be at the assembly. I was not a GR. There was just this overwhelming sense of me having to be present. Here we are today still talking. In fact, we talk daily either on-line or on the telephone. Neither of us kept in touch with anyone else we met in Tiptonville. It's very odd.

Then I look at my friendship with Linda. We met at the first Al-Anon convention I ever attended. She was this wild child who made everyone laugh with her antics. Everyone in District 15 thought she was an alcoholic. I've since gotten to know her really well. She has become my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without her.

There are others in recovery who mean as much to me. Some would have crossed my path years ago if one or both of us had taken a different fork in the road. But to think I would never have met them if I had not married Joey. I have a lot to thank him for.

Right now I have this terribly neurotic cat sitting next to me at the computer. She's purring loudly and rubbing up against my keyboard and begging to be petted. But when I reach to hold her, she hisses, bites and scratches at me. She is so much like me that it is pathetic. We're both skeptical of people. Is that fear talking? Or is it caution? Hard to say. At any rate I do identify with my cat today.

It just struck me that the two women I described above are very much like this cat and me. We've been hurt several times and we are reluctant to trust again. It's a good thing we found each other. I don't know what might have happened if we hadn't.